Police officers who carried out a search for a missing toddler have expressed regret that they did not force open a car’s trunk where the youngster was later found dead.
The body of two-year-old Isaiah Theis, who disappeared on Tuesday night, was found in the trunk of a locked car parked outside the boy’s home in Wisconsin at about 10:15 p.m on Wednesday.
Searchers had looked into the car and checked the area around it several times. However, they did not look in the trunk.
Concerns: Police officers who carried out a search for missing toddler Isaiah Theis have expressed regret that they did not force open a car’s trunk where the youngster was later found dead
Speaking last night, Chief Deputy Steve Moe said he wished they had.
But he said the search teams were operating under the assumptions that Isaiah had wandered off Tuesday evening, which he had a tendency to do, and that all the cars were locked.
He said deputies did not have access to the keys, but he wasn’t certain whether the keys were on the property.
‘Would we liked to have forced entry to the car? Yeah, from my personal perspective,’ Moe said.
Moe declined to speculate how Isaiah ended up in the trunk and wouldn’t say whether investigators consider his death an accident or the result of foul play.
‘I know that there’s strong interest in what caused it and what things led to the boy getting in that car,’ he said. ‘It’s just too early.’
He added: ‘A full autopsy has been requested and it would be inappropriate for anyone to speculate as to the cause and nature of death until that examination has been done.’
Isaiah’s maternal grandfather, Paul Krey, told KARE-TV that the car belonged to a customer of his son-in-law, who is a mechanic and works out of a shop on his property. Krey said the car was parked there and waiting to be fixed.
All the Theis children were comfortable hanging around the shop and spent plenty of time around the vehicles while their father worked, the grandfather said.
The boy’s mother told investigators Isaiah was last seen about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday while playing with his 7-year-old brother at their home near Centuria, which is about 60 miles northeast of St. Paul.
About 2,450 civilian volunteers helped search the fields and woods surrounding the family’s home throughout the day Wednesday, the sheriff said.
Debbra White, 51, of Milltown, left a teddy bear and a wind chime at a makeshift memorial near the scene.
White told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis that she lost her 8-year-old son more than 20 years ago when he drowned in the St. Croix River.
‘There’s nothing I can say to bring their son back,’ White said.
About 100 volunteers searched for the boy on Tuesday night and throughout the day on Wednesday before the volunteers were told to go home at around 10pm. Just minutes later an officer found the boy’s body.
